Let's go over to John chapter
13 again tonight, shall we? John chapter 13, talk about the
betrayer. It's a sad subject to think about
the betrayer, but it's a necessary one. Our
Lord in His eternal purpose chose twelve men who would be his immediate
disciples. These are the apostolic group. To them he gave special gifts
and special discernment and he gave them the ability to heal
and the ability to cast out demons. He sent them out to preach the
Gospel. And we may, I think, safely conclude
that all twelve of these men went out and faithfully set forth
that which God told them to set forth, the Gospel of the grace
of Christ Jesus and even Judas himself. He's a preacher of the
Gospel. He went forth and he had the
same kind of gifts that the rest of the disciples had. And now
our Lord's public ministry has ended. And He gathers these men,
these dozen men, He gathers them together, and be mindful of the
fact that for, I don't know, three years or so, maybe even
longer than that, they have been watching Him, listening to Him,
learning from Him, and this includes Judas. who obviously had the
same kind of privileges and wonderful opportunities as did the other
11 men. They've been with the Savior.
They've been listening to Him. I mean, virtually walking in
His shadow for 36 months or so and listening to every word that
He had to say and all of His messages. Judas and the other
men, they got their commission. directly from the Lord Jesus,
and now they're all gathered together. Judas, as well as the
other eleven, has had his feet washed by the Lord Jesus Christ. And he is at the table where
he will be served the Lord's Supper. It is not for us to fence the
Lord's table. Lord's Supper this coming Lord's
Day morning. It is not for the men who serve
the elements of the Lord's Supper, nor for me to indicate to them,
don't serve so and so. because they're not worthy to
be served. That's not for me. That's not
a decision for me. It's not a decision for the men
who serve. Scripture says, let a man examine
himself if he be in the faith. This is your responsibility.
And our Lord Jesus, He served Judas just like He served John
and the other men. And it's Judas' responsibility. This is on Him. So, our Lord, He treated Judas
just like He treated the other men, with respect. And as I'm going to set before
you here in a few minutes, when our Lord Jesus, at least to John,
exposed to John who the traitor was, our Lord did not, He did
not say cruel things to Judas. He just said, what you're about
to do, do quickly. And Judas left. Our Lord Jesus,
in every facet of His earthly ministry, He exhibited mercy
and lots of kindness. to those about him, and of course
he had words of correction to those who were self-righteous,
to those who believed that their acceptance with God was based
upon something that they did, some work that they would do,
but our Lord Jesus, he was the perfect man, wasn't he? And just
as he was really God, he was really man. And as we observe
his personal conduct, we see a man whose behavior is worthy
of example. And we long to be like him and
to conduct ourselves in a manner as he did that's honoring to
God and beneficial to those who are about him. Now, our Lord
Jesus had just indicated to His disciples, and we covered this
last week in verses 18 and 19, He had just indicated to all
of these men that one of them, one of them would betray Him.
Notice again in verses 18 and 19, our Lord says, I speak not
of you all, I know whom I have chosen. But that the Scripture
may be fulfilled, he that eateth bread with me hath lifted up
his heel, against Me. And now I tell you before it
come, that when it is come to pass, you may believe that I
am He." Our Savior is indicating to these men, as He has indicated
even before this, and it goes all the way back to half a year
before this, back in John chapter 6, He had said, one of you is
a devil. One of you is a devil. And now,
right on the verge of his death, he speaks to these men and he
says, now, one of you, one of you is going to betray me. He's
already lifted up his heel against me. And indeed, Judas had already,
it had already entered into his mind and into his heart to betray
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's lifted up His heel against
Him. And our Lord Jesus, He says to
all of these men, now, I'm telling you this before it ever happens,
before it becomes public, before I am ever betrayed publicly,
I tell you this in order that you men might be reinforced in
your assurance that I am, that I'm Jehovah. You see, like in Isaiah chapter
46, our God, He speaks of things in the beginning, in the beginning
of time, He speaks of things that haven't happened even all
the way to the end, and He speaks of them as though they're already
done. And this is what our Lord Jesus, He's speaking about what
one of them is going to do. And He says, now when this all
unfolds, and it will, it'll happen just like I say they will, You
men will know, you will realize, you'll have a better understanding
and a greater assurance that I am, that I'm God. I'm the omniscient
God. I'm the one who knows from the
beginning, the end, and all of the things that are in between.
So I want you men to remember when this unfolds, remember,
I told you it would, I told you exactly what was going to happen. Then, we get down to verse number
20. And this is an unusual verse,
and this is where we pick up tonight actually. And I say it's
an unusual verse, because unless you understand what the Savior
is saying, it's rather hard to figure out What is the connection
here? Because in verses 18 and 19,
He's speaking about He's going to be betrayed. And then in verse
21, when Jesus had thus said He was troubled in spirit, He
testified and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you that one of you
shall betray Me. So those verses, in that context,
he is speaking about the betrayal. But listen to what he says in
verse number 20. Verily, verily, I send you, he
that receiveth, he that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me. And he that receiveth me receiveth
him that sent me. And when I read that, and when
I do, in my preparation of the message, I just read the Scripture
over and over and over again. I'm trying to get very familiar
with it, and I'm asking the Spirit of God, Lord, give me some understanding. This is before I read any of
the commentaries. I just want, I want in my own
mind and in my own heart, as best I can, as best the Spirit
of God is pleased to reveal to me, I want to understand what
this is all about. And as I read this, I read it
through the first time, and I'll tell you, my first thought was
this verse doesn't even seem to fit in here. Because the verses
before are speaking about the betrayal. The verses afterward,
from there right on down through verse number 30 about the betrayal. But yet there's this verse in
there, and this is our Lord. Remember, He is speaking to these
men. They're all gathered in this
upper room. This is the night before He's going to be crucified
the next day. And here He's speaking to them,
and all of a sudden, it looks like He kind of changes subjects. But He really doesn't. He really
doesn't. And let me read it again. Verily,
verily, and by the way, our Lord, in this 13th chapter, four times
He uses this expression, which is a favorite expression of His,
and He used this, verily, verily, amen, amen, so be it, so be it. He uses this whenever He's going
to say something of unusual, unusual significance. Everything
the Lord said, of course, is significant. We know that. Everything
He had to say is the Word of God because it's coming out of
His mouth. So every word is vital, every word is necessary. But
yet for those who are listening, those to whom He's speaking,
He would use verily, verily in order that they'd perk up their
ears, because He's going to say something that's startling, say
something that's very, very vital, and you don't want to miss it.
Whenever I see those words, verily, verily, I'm thinking to myself,
whatever it is the Master is about to talk about, I don't
want to miss this. I want to make sure I get this.
Otherwise, He wouldn't have put verily, verily. So he says, verily,
verily, I say unto you, to all of you men, he that receiveth
whomsoever I send receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth
him that sent me. Now, our Lord Jesus, he said
this, he said virtually the same thing back in Matthew chapter
10 and verse 40. And you don't have to turn back
to that passage, you can mark it if you want to. Back there,
our Lord had chosen the 12 apostles. He had sent them out two by two
to preach the gospel. And here's what he says to them
before they go out. This is Matthew 10, 40. He that
receiveth you, receiveth me. And he that receiveth me, receiveth
him that sent me. Now Judas had been sent out with
the other men. Most likely he teamed up with
a man named Simon the Canaanite because we know the Lord sent
them out two by two. Now this announcement to these
men that one of them was a fraud, one of them was a hypocrite,
one of them was a traitor, this You know it had to upset them. And if I had been there, and
I tried to put myself in the position of one of these apostles,
I would be thinking, if one of us, and I'm looking around at
these eleven other men, let's say I'm James. Seems fitting, okay. And I'm
looking around, and I know it's not me. I don't have thoughts
of being a traitor or betraying the Savior. But I'm looking around,
I wonder if that guy that I went out with preaching the gospel,
I wonder if it's him. I wonder if it's him. And I wonder
if the ministry of one of us is going to ruin the ministry
of all of us. And if there is in our midst
a hypocrite, does that mean all of our efforts in preaching the
gospel, in setting forth the Lord Jesus Christ, does that
mean it all comes to naught? We've got a hypocrite in the
midst. We've got a hypocritical preacher. So, Lord, are you saying,
this is what I'd be thinking, are you indicating to us that
because there is a hypocrite, that our ministry meant nothing? And the Lord, He answers that
kind of thinking by saying, He that receiveth whoever it is
that I send, receives me. And he that receives me receives
him that sent me. Let me ask you a question. Did
the Lord Jesus send Judas? Well, the answer is yes. He sent
him. Now, was Judas a believer? No. But did he have the right message? Yes. Yes. Our Lord would have forbidden
him to preach the wrong message. He's a man who doesn't love Christ
Jesus, but he is a very good hypocrite. He's a very good imposter. He's got the right message. He's
got power. He's got authority. He's got
the ability to perform miracles. And he goes out preaching the
gospel. Now let me ask you this. When people believed the message
that Judas preached, when they received the message, they received Christ Jesus, they
believed Him to be the prophet, priest, and king. They believed
He is the Messiah. They believe He is the Savior.
When they believed the message of Judas, were they saved? Were they converted? Well, the answer is yes. It isn't
the messenger, it's the message. And Judas goes forth with these
other men, probably, as I said, paired with Simon the Canaanite.
And he goes out preaching. And those who were converted
under the ministry of Judas or Simon the Canaanite or any of
the rest of the men, they were genuine conversions. Genuine
conversions. And I think the Lord is actually
encouraging these men. You see, His purpose is being
fulfilled. He chose a devil who would be
a messenger. But that messenger, though he
was a devil, he brought forth the Word of God. And don't you know that everything
Judas did was the fulfillment of what God purposed for him
to do? I would ask you this, and of
course the question is obvious in light of this man, is it possible
for a man to be a hypocrite and yet preach the truth? Well, the obvious answer is yes,
it is possible. It is possible. Well, here's
another question then, and this is a Something that was put to
me, a question somebody put to me several years ago. And I came
to him and said, Pastor, I was converted under the ministry
of a man who preached the truth. But he left the ministry. In
fact, he's no longer a Baptist. He's a Pentecostal. And he has
forsaken the gospel of God's grace. Does that mean I'm not
saved? And does that mean my baptism
isn't valid? He baptized me. And I told them, I said, listen,
it isn't the messenger, it's the message. Now, indeed, God's
servants have the right message. And God blesses the message of
His messengers. But to fulfill His purpose, which
is mysterious to say the least, God can raise up a hypocrite
and use him to set forth the truth just like He used Judas. The people who were converted
under the ministry of Judas, if they received Judas and received
the message of Judas, and receive the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior
says if they receive the messenger, the message, and me, then they
receive my Father which is in heaven, which means they're saved. They're saved. I'll give you an illustration.
Let's say you're expecting a letter from a faraway relative. And you await with much anticipation
that very important piece of mail. And the mail carrier arrives
at your house. You don't care about how he looks,
whether he's old or young or nice, smiling, or if he's Unpleasant
and unkind. Those things don't matter to
you at all. The only thing that matters to
you, have you got that correspondence I've been looking for? Right? You say, here's your mail. Or
maybe he says, here's your mail. Doesn't matter his attitude.
All that's important is the mail. Let me tell you something. Here's what's all important here
tonight. The mail. The mail. I'm just a mail carrier. Now,
I want to be an honest mail carrier. I want to deliver the correspondence
from God faithfully because I do love Him and I love His Word
and I'm trying to exalt Him and preach His truth. But all that
you need to know is what is the message? I just want the mail. You're just a mail carrier, preacher.
You're a mail carrier. Well, what is the message? Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. Salvation by grace. Forgiveness
of sins through the bloody death of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
the mail. And I want to be a faithful messenger
in conveying that message to you. And if in years to come,
hope this doesn't happen, But let's say I fall by the wayside. That happens. Have you known
preachers who once preached the truth and who don't preach it
anymore? I've known preachers like that.
Does that mean everybody who was blessed by their ministries
when they were preaching the truth, does that mean all of
those blessings are forfeited? It doesn't mean that at all. Does that mean all those conversions
that took place weren't really conversions at all? It doesn't
mean that either. It just means that God, in His
infinite wisdom and purpose, He was pleased to use a messenger
who was fraudulent, who was a fake, in order to fulfill God's hidden
purpose, to use the message, and then cast the messenger aside. God operates according to His
own sovereign will. And I really think this is what
our Lord is saying here. He that receives whomsoever I
send receives me. Those who receive Judas and his
message receive Christ Jesus. And in receiving Christ Jesus,
they receive the Father. And so he goes on, look at verse
21 now. When Jesus had thus said he was
troubled in spirit, he testified saying, here's another verily,
verily. Verily, verily I say unto you that one of you shall
betray me. Now, we know, we can see here
once again the reality of our Lord's manhood. He's troubled
in spirit, he's troubled in his soul. We've seen his deity. He said,
I'm telling you this before it ever happens so that you'll know
when it does happen regarding Judas that I am. So he's divine. But also now
he shows them and shows us that he is really a man because he's
troubled in spirit. He's troubled in spirit. What
is he troubled about? Is he troubled about going to
the cross? No. Is he troubled about being our
substitute and being the sacrifice for our sins. No, he's not troubled
about that. He's troubled about the evil
that's in the man seated at the table. That troubles him. That which always troubled our
Savior was evil. And it's interesting, he says
here, The scripture says he was troubled in spirit. It's the
exact same word that our Lord Jesus used in chapter 14 at verse
one. Let not your hearts be troubled.
Now they were troubled over him leaving. And they were troubled
over the fact he said one of them would deny him three times. And they were troubled over the
fact that he said one of you will betray me. But he, this
is what he's troubled about, evil. Evil. And he says, one of you shall
betray me. Then the disciples looked on one another, doubting
of whom he spoke. They didn't have any kind of
clue as to who it was. No suspicions were raised about
Judas. Now look at verse 23. Now there
was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus
loved. Not who loved Jesus, although
John did love Jesus, but the Spirit of God words it this way,
whom Jesus loved. It's John who writes most especially
about the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. We get into the book
of 1 John, and John even says we love Him because He first
loved us. And he's leaning on Jesus' bosom. He's seated next to Him. They
were kind of in couches as they sat around the table. And John
just leaned over and leaned his head on the bosom of the Savior. And verse 24, Simon Peter therefore
beckoned to John, He says, ask Him who He's talking about. In verse 25, he then lying on
Jesus' breast said unto Him, Lord, who is it? Lord, who is it? Again, I was thinking about this
situation. What if I had been an onlooker
of this supper. And I hear the Lord say, one
of you shall betray me. Based upon natural reasoning,
you know who I would have guessed? Simon Peter. That's who I'd guess. Because he was the one who was
all the time mouthing off. Right? When our Lord Jesus, back
in Matthew chapter 16, said the Son of Man must go to Jerusalem. He must suffer many things and
be killed and raised again. It was Simon Peter who said,
that's not going to happen. Harb it from thee. Be merciful
to yourself. I don't want to hear that kind
of talk. And the Savior took him aside and said, Get thee
behind me, Satan. Well, you know, as I remember
words like that, I say, I bet this is the guy. Now, Judas hasn't
said anything to make me suspicious of him. You see, learn this, you can't
tell who's saved and who's not saved. You say, well, I'm looking
for fruit. I'm looking for evidence. Well,
Simon Peter, he seems to be a little short on fruit. And Judas, best
I can discover, except maybe there in John chapter 12, when
he says the money that Mary used to anoint his feet, that money
could have been put to better use. Of course, the rest of the
disciples joined in with him. Judas, he hasn't said anything
to draw any attention to him in a negative way. Listen, God hasn't called us
to be fruit inspectors or to decide who we think is saved
and who's not saved. That's not for us to know. We're
not the judges. The Lord's the judge. He sees
things as they are. If I had been with these men,
I would hope that I'd be said, Lord, I hope it's not me. But listen, here's the fact of
the matter. We're all weak and feeble creatures. We're sinful men. And any of
these men left to themselves, any of these twelve, whether
John, James, John the sons of thunder, or Simon Peter, or any
of the rest, they're all capable of betraying Him. You see, one man was left to
himself, and he perished. This is exactly what you do not
want to happen to you is for God to leave you to yourself
like He left Judas to himself. Just leave you alone. You think
of all the privileges that Judas had. All of the honors bestowed
upon him. He's a preacher. He's sent forth,
commissioned by the Savior. He preached the gospel. He baptized. The Savior didn't baptize anybody
and His disciples baptized men and women and young people when
they professed faith in Christ Jesus. You and I have the capability
of doing anything that any other son or daughter of Adam has ever
done. I'm telling you the truth. We
have that capacity within us. You say, I never would. I wouldn't do that. You don't
know your heart. You don't know your heart. The
heart is evil above all things and desperately wicked. Desperately
wicked. Who can know it? That's what
Jeremiah said. Who can know it? So John says, Lord, who is it? Out of verse 26. Jesus answered. By the way, John Gill says Jesus
whispered. And I think he's right. Because
the answer is known only to John. And the rest of the disciples,
they don't suspect Judas. When what our Lord says to John
comes to pass, nobody suspects that Judas is the betrayer. So John answered, or he whispered
to John, he it is to whom I shall give a sop when I have dipped
it. And when he dipped the sop, he
took some bread, He dipped it in a sauce. He gave it to Judas
Iscariot, the son of Simon. Now we know this, that it was
a very congenial thing to do, a very kind thing to do for the
host to dip a morsel of bread in this sauce. and then give it to a guest.
That was one of the most odd. Dip it in there. Here, you have
this. It was such a wonderful thing
to do to a guest at a table. And let me tell you something.
This is the way our Lord has been dealing with treating Judas
all along. There's been no harshness. There's
been no cruelty to it. Our Lord never did anything to
Judas to merit what Judas did to Him. Not at all. You're talking about returning
evil for good, that's what Judas did. Because he received all
these good things from the Lord Jesus, and what does he give
back in return? Evil. Evil. And while I'm sure
the rest of the men, as they sat at that table, and our Lord
said, one of you will betray me, the rest of them were sitting
there probably worried. I hope it's not me. I hope it's
not me. Judas, he's sitting there in
his heart as hard as can be. He's not moved. No, he's indignant. Let me tell
you something. He hates the Lord Jesus Christ. That's true. He hates Him. It's
a deep-seated bitterness in the heart of Judas toward Jesus of
Nazareth. And here our Lord dips the sop
and gives it to him, which is a wonderful act of kindness.
There's no softness in Judas. None whatsoever. And after the sop, verse 27,
Satan entered into him. He's a child of the devil. That's
who he is. And then Jesus said unto him,
that thou doest do quickly. Now our Lord could have said
anything he wanted to say to Judas. He could have said to
him, please don't do this. I know what's in your heart,
Judas. Don't go through this. Didn't say that. Here's what
he said. That thou doest, do quickly. In other words, the Lord Jesus
is saying, let's get on with it. Let's get on with it. And my friends, Christ came to
die. This is the fulfilling of God's
eternal purpose. It says in Luke 22, 22, the Son
of Man goeth as it was determined, but woe unto him by whom he is
betrayed. Let's get on with it. Our Lord
has set His face like a flint to go to Jerusalem, to go to
the cross, to go to Calvary, to die in the stead of His people,
to justify the objects of His love. And it says, that thou
doest do quickly. Go! Go! Now, here's the reason in verse
28, here's the reason I say and I agree with John Gill that the
words were whispered to John. Now no man at the table knew
for what intent he spake this unto him. For some of them thought,
because Judas had the bag that Jesus had said to him, buy those
things that we have need of against the feast, or that he should
give something to the poor. No, he's not about to buy anything. He's about to sell somebody.
He's not a buyer, he's a seller. He's gonna sell the master for
30 pieces of silver. He, then having received the
sop, went out, went immediately out. And the Holy Spirit gives us
a little bit more information. And it was night. Men love darkness rather than light because their
deeds are evil. This man's in spiritual darkness. And he'll stay in spiritual darkness. And he is just immovable. Tell you what, it takes more
than good preaching. He heard the best preaching a
man could ever sit under. It takes more than that to convert
the soul. He observed the miracles. Takes
more than being an observer of miracles. He performed miracles. Takes more than that. And I'll
give you something else here real quick. You know, later on
in the Gospel of John, when Judas leads the band out to arrest
the Savior, and our Lord Jesus says, Whom seek ye? And they
said, Jesus of Nazareth. And he said, I am. And they all
fell back. That included Judas. You have
to know all that. That included Judas. And that didn't move him
either. That didn't break his heart either.
He's got a heart as hard as a rock. And listen, the only thing that'll
break the heart that's hard as a rock is the sovereign grace
of God. And God wouldn't please to break
his heart. He's going to use him to accomplish
an awful deed. You say, well, I hope the Lord
will use me. And I've said this before. You
can count on that. He used this man to accomplish
his purpose. And then this man convicted on
some level Tried to give the money back.
Did throw it down. And of course they bought a potter's
field with it. Then he went out to commit suicide
and tried to hang himself and Acts says that he fell down and
burst his bowels asunder. He died and went to hell. He kissed the door to heaven.
He kissed the Lord Jesus Christ right on the cheek. and perished in his sin. Scary. I'm telling you, it's
scary. A man can walk with the Lord
Jesus Christ for three years, maybe better than three years,
maybe closer to three and a half years, and witness all of the
things that he witnessed, and preach, preach, and have conversions,
and then turn his back on the Savior. and reveal what has been in there
all along. See, he wasn't changed. He's just the same guy he was
to begin with. He just hid it. But he didn't hide it from Christ. The Lord knew him. And he died and went to hell.
Lord, don't leave me to myself. Don't leave any of us to ourselves. Do whatever it takes to bring
us to You. Because we're all rotten to the
core, aren't we? No question about it. We need
the grace of God. Grace that's greater than our
sins. That's what we need. 209 is the
song. Number 209. Grace greater than
our sins. and then we'll go home after
we sing this. Remember,